Not Another Self-Help List! Heartwarming Thursday

My Pinterest feed is FULL of pins like this, articles telling us how our lives can be better and giving us a checklist to make sure we follow through. I usually love self-help articles, books and checklists. Who doesn’t want to be a better version of themselves? But today when I was scrolling through pin after pin of ways to improve every aspect of my life, all I could do was roll my eyes and pretend to gag.

I just couldn’t take another self-help list.

Photo courtesy of Pixabay

Here’s the thing, I’m in the trenches of “improvement” as we speak. No, I don’t have grand resolutions. I’ve failed too many times at those in the past. I’m brutally honest with myself. Twenty-four hours is about all the willpower I have. Each day I try to meet my “let’s get healthy” goals. What are they? (Don’t laugh!!)

Drink 96 ounces of water a day. (I work from home where the bathroom is handy or this wouldn’t be possible!)

Count my calorie intake using MyFitnessPal, an app on my phone. (Some people hate counting calories. I get it, but for me, it works!)

Exercise for 20-30 minutes 5-6 days a week.

I have a secret weapon for meeting these goals. Prayer. Yep, good old-fashioned prayer. I ask God to give me the strength and motivation to improve my health each day.

Psalm 34:8 (NIV) “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.”

Does this mean I always meet my health goals? No, but since they’re not too over the top, I usually do. On the days I don’t, I refuse to berate myself. My life runs better when I do what’s good for me, and that’s usually motivation enough for me to get back on track.

Honestly, the above list is all I can handle right now. So I’ll have to wait to take the steps to improve my home’s positive energy, and I’ll take a rain check on thirty ways to be a better wife. But the fun things to do alone? I might check that one out!

Instead of feeling pressured to DO THIS! TRY HARDER! BE BETTER!, I hope you’ll smile, close your eyes and rest assured you’re more than enough right now. Pray daily for help to meet your goals. And hang in there! You’re not alone!

Are you in the beginning of a health kick or other self-improvement plan? How is it going for you?

Michelle Lim

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Michelle Lim

~Sparking Hope In The Face of Fear~

Author of Idea Sparking: How to Brainstorming Conflict in Your Novel and Romantic Suspense writer with three complete manuscripts that have earned recognition in The Rattler Contest 2012, the Genesis Contest in 2011 and the Frasier Contest in 2010. Michelle is the Brainstorm/Huddle Coach at My Book Therapy and serves as President of MN N.I.C.E., a local chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers.

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Michelle Lim has captured and applied all the powerful My Book Therapy techniques—and more— into this must-have book that guarantees an author the tools to create a riveting and unique story. This resource will be dog-eared, highlighted, and always within reach as I create my stories. ~Susan May Warren, best-selling, award-winning author and founder of My Book Therapy.